Man hired to help refurbish bathroom water-boarded after botched renovation

Two men from Stockholm in Sweden faced court on Tuesday after they allegedly kidnapped and tortured a man hired to help renovate a bathroom. A young home-owner in Botkyrka, south of Stockholm, enlisted builders to overhaul his bathroom.

His anger at what he considered an unacceptable job got the better of him, however, leading him and an accomplice to kidnap a 31-year-old agent working for the renovators. The victim said he was choked until he passed out in the bathroom. When he woke up, he said he was being waterboarded, a torture technique that simulates drowning. The man told police he was convinced he would die.

The home-owner then locked him up in the trunk of his own car, drove him away and dumped him in the nearby town of Södertälje. They are now accused of kidnapping and aggravated assault. While the suspect offered an alternative version of events, prosecutor Lizzie Österlund said that evidence supported the victim's tale. "You can see the injuries where he was tied up, just like he said, and they found blood in the house," she said.
"When he was set free he immediately called the police, who found severed cable ties nearby." The two suspects said the renovation was delayed, poorly done, and that the 31-year-old pocketed a huge chunk of the builders' fees. They called the case against them "a joke". The two men have denied the kidnapping charge, but admitted an altercation had taken place, which explained the traces of blood. The case continues.